The Master Emerald
by 3k
Summary: Based on SA2. Sonic is badly injured trying to use a fake emerald for Chaos Control. Rouge and Shadow band together with the heroes to save the Earth but Eggman attempts to sabotage their mission. The real power of the Master Emerald is finally realised.
1. Chaos Control

_This is a slightly revised edition from the version which Tylec Asroc kindly reviewed. I've taken out the awful bit where I basically recited the game's script line for line, and changed a few other details. I don't own any of these characters, all are copyright to Sega/Sonic team. It's much more fun messing with the official character's heads than writing fancharaters..._

_This fanfic is dedicated to the memory of my friend Rickie who was a devout Knuckles fan. _

Sonic the Hedgehog leapt high onto a rail above a boiling mass of green liquid. His shoes sparked like firecrackers as they ground along the rail he landed on. The hedgehog bent low, determined eyes fixed forward into the distance, searching for any sign of his friends. Tails' plan to disable the Eclipse cannon had been almost forgotten in his haste. What mattered most now was finding where Eggman had taken Tails and Amy. Their captor frequently taunted Sonic's progress though hidden speakers, becoming increasingly more impatient. Sonic leapt from the rail into a security door, forcing it open. For a moment he stared aghast at the scene beyond, where brightly coloured panels floated among the stars. Eggman's final furious treat sent a chill down the hedgehog's spine. "Amy, hang on, I'm coming!" he yelled, bouncing like a rubber ball though the maze. Sure, Amy could be a pain at times, but she was one of the few people he knew that cared deeply for him, and Eggman was trying to lay the blame for her death on him! And why not when he, Sonic, had abandoned her in this strange and dangerous Space station "Ark" while he sought to swap one of the chaos emeralds with a fake one Tails had created. The plan was that it would react to the other real emeralds and explode, ruining Eggman's fearsome cannon and threats to attack Mobius with it.

Sonic's ears swivelled to follow the sound of a soft noise, which sounded like something small and afraid whimpering, and he followed the sound. Never the less, he might have run straight past the room he was looking for, had Amy not spotted him and squealed his name. Sonic skidded to a halt outside the door, entering causally, though he noted the immensely relieved look on Tails' face, and several large holes in the sides of the Cyclone as well as Eggman's walker. Maybe the two of them had been duelling.

"Ah, there you are, Sonic! I was beginning to think you weren't coming, but Amy assured me her boyfriend would come and rescue her!" Eggman gloated. Amy was handcuffed and tied up in front of the Egg Walker, its lasers tagged onto her. Tears still welled in her eyes, and she could not seem to keep from shaking.

"What d'you want, Eggman?" Sonic growled.

"Your chaos emerald, to start with...place it on that platform, would you, and then we'll talk," Robotnik said, leering greedily. The only emerald Sonic had was a fake. He just hoped Eggman would not know the difference.

"Been taking 'evil villain' classes, Ro-blubber-nik?" he taunted, producing the fake chaos emerald, trying to hide his fears. He stepped on to the small platform and reached to put the emerald down. Suddenly he heard a hissing noise, and jumped to see a strong glass cylinder rise up around him. Instinctively he pushed against the glass as though not quite believing he was trapped. Amy howled, and Tails gasped.

"You didn't think you could trick me with that fake did you?" Eggman laughed. Tails looked utterly devastated. Eggman had seen through their plans all along, then. And it did not seem that he thought Sonic or any of them were still hiding a real chaos emerald. They had all been tricked and now his hero was captured.

"Why did you want it if you knew it was a fake?" Tails demanded, wanting to cry. All his hours of painstaking work had been for nothing!

"I only knew since you just told me, you little pipsqueak!" Eggman laughed. He had not known it was a fake; he was missing an emerald and had hoped the heroes had it. He had been suspicious when Sonic had willingly handed over the emerald instead of risking an attack on the already damaged walker. The trap for Sonic, however, had been part of his plan.

"Tails! Whatever happens, don't let Eggman get away with it...I'm counting on you, buddy," Sonic said, knowing he was undeniably trapped. The kitsune just stared at him, eyes filling with tears. He could not believe he had been tricked into giving away the plan so easily. "Amy...try and stay out of trouble..." Sonic added. The pink hedgehog wailed, struggling against her bindings.

"SO LONG SONIC!" Robotnik cackled, tiring of the sappy goodbye speech.

He slammed his hand down hard on a switch. The cylinder, which surrounded Sonic, hummed and vibrated softly. The terrified hedgehog reached out, and pounded at the glass. Tails locked his walker's laser onto the glass just seconds before the cylinder dropped through the floor, vanishing from view.

"SONIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCC!" Tails screamed. Eggman laughed and turned his attentions to the window. Amy and Tails followed his gaze in time to see Sonic's capsule floating out there, and watched in horror as it exploded. Tails just stared, feeling helpless and numb. Amy howled her hero's name, and burst into dramatic sobs.

"SHUT UP you insufferable creature!" Eggman screamed. Amy's high-pitched hysterics hurt his ears, and now Sonic was dead, she was of no value to him as a prisoner. Tails, who had been staring at the empty space where the capsule had been, turned at the voice, just in time to see Eggman about to fire on Amy. He screamed something and fired the walker's jets at full force. He crashed into Amy, knocking her out of the way of the blast, which earthed itself on the far wall. Tails glared at Eggman. At the man responsible for Sonic's death. Realising now that he had planned to kill them all, all along. His grief transformed to anger. 'Sonic said it was up to me now...' Tails thought. 'For nearly my whole life I've had looked up to Sonic, wondering what it would be like with the whole world depending on me. And now it does... He trusted me with that much responsibility... I have to honour that trust!'

"What are you going to do about it, Fox boy?" Eggman taunted, hoping the comment had sounded as cocky as he intended. There was something about Tails' stare that unnerved him. The Cyclone stood, and Eggman tensed, ready at his weapons controls. Tails ceased his own, and fired a missile at Eggman. He swerved to avoid it, but did not react quite quickly enough. The missile stuck the rear end of the walker, blasting a large hole and ripping the metalwork, despite the protection that the shields were supposed to provide. The doctor turned for a moment in his cockpit to survey the smouldering wreckage...but was brought to attention by a long low growl from Tails. Almost fearful of the young kitsune now, he turned for battle.

Amy's sore and tearstained face turned slowly from the window. She had not noticed that the first shot had been aimed at her, having been too wrapped up in her sorrow. Not knowing what she could possibly do to prevent Tails fighting, she hugged her knees to he chest and watched, mentally cheering for the kitsune. For a moment, the two mechanical walkers circled each other then Tails said something about seeing the true power of his Cyclone and pressed something. A long bright beam of energy fired from the front of the Cyclone, encompassing the Eggwalker. Tails grimaced at the controls, struggling to keep is own walker steady against the force it was discharging. The beam dimmed then went out and the charred remains of the Eggwalker crashed to the ground, its legs no longer able to support it.

For a moment, no one moved, then an anguished groan emitted from the wreckage. Eggman emerged from the cockpit, which he had ducked completely into when Tails had unleashed his beam. He leapt from the broken Eggwalker and scuttled away, screaming: 'This isn't over yet, Fox boy!'

Tails barely noticed him leave. All his anger had depleted now that Eggman was defeated and for now, all that was left was sorrow, overshadowing his victory.

"I did it, Sonic!" he cried. Once he had dreamed of the day he would tell his hero that. Now there was no one to hear it. He climbed out of his walker, carrying a tool kit. He got out the pliers and cut Amy free from her cuffs and ropes. She moaned sadly, and clutched hold of him for comfort like a teddy bear. Tears stung his own eyes then ran freely down his cheeks. 

"We...should find out where Eggman went...and hope we find Knuckles on the way..." he stammered."We have to stop Eggman firing that cannon... we owe it to Sonic..."

Knuckles had returned to the main finished structures of the Colony to find the others. He felt he had a duty to help them now, since he may never have caught up with Rouge and the rest of his emerald without them. He'd also proven to everyone that he had no idea how to fly a shuttle earlier, so it was unlikely that he'd get home alone.

He heard a sort of sizzling crackling sound-and the air sparked brightly before him. Alarmed, he leapt backwards, well out of the way, and stared. There was a point of bright yellow light hanging in mid-air, which rapidly grew bigger. He could also hear a faint sound, which sounded vaguely like screaming, that was becoming louder as the light expanded...and now there appeared to be an object travelling through it.

In the next instant, the screaming sound reached its pitch and stopped abruptly when the light winked out as though it had never been there. In the same instant, a large blue and tan ball erupted from the air and landed heavily on the ground, moaning on impact. Knuckles lowered a protective fist from his eyes and stared once more.

"Sonic?" he cried, astonished. The hedgehog moaned again, and tried to stand. He appeared to be holding a chaos emerald.

"Eggman...into space...used chaos control..." Sonic mumbled, incoherently. He rose for a few seconds then staggered. Knuckles caught him.

"Are you alright? Did you say you used...chaos control?" he said, righting the hedgehog. Leaning on Knuckles' shoulder, he gingerly placed the foot that had unbalanced him before down on the floor again.

"It's fine, I just twisted it a bit," he winced, pulling free from the echidna. He managed two paces before the foot gave out again and he fell heavily on his side. His ankle screamed pain in protest.

"It looks broken to me," Knuckles said, staring over Sonic as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Thanks for the diagnosis, 'Doc'. But if I don't deliver this emerald to the Eclipse Cannon, Mobius joins that asteroid belt outside!" Sonic said, bitterly. Knuckles winced when he attempted to put weight on his damaged ankle to stand up. Growling in anguish the hedgehog grasped at his ankle as if that might stop the agony.

"I'll take that emerald...What am I supposed to do with it?" Knuckles said.

"Throw it into the cannon's barrel before it fires. It's a fake that'll react with the others and explode. But hurry," Sonic told him. He placed the emerald in Knuckles' paw. His own felt strangely cold, and shook very slightly. He still sounded exhausted too, even though he was trying to hide it. He handed Knuckles a small black object.

"Try and contact Tails on your way. Tell him where I am...no... Start by telling him I'm still alive..." he said. He scowled at the echidna's confused expression. "Just get on with it!"

The echidna ran, vowing that the hedgehog would pay for his retort when Mobius was safe and he had recovered from whatever the effects of using a fake chaos emerald for 'chaos control' apparently caused.


	2. Stop the Cannon!

Tails' communicator crackled and burst into life. Tails heard the pounding of running feet as Knuckles yelled his name.

"H-hello? Knux?" He replied. His voice sounded horse and cracked.

"Tails! I've just spoken to Sonic. He said he used 'chaos control'!" For a moment, silence. Then Tails replied:

"He's alive?" Knuckles heard a squealing in the background, the communicator crackled loudly.

"AMY! Stop it!" Tails fumed, grabbing back his communicator. He flew out of her reach.

"Tails?" said Knuckles.

"I'm here...Amy grabbed it," the kitsune told him.

"Right...Sonic wasn't far from where the shuttle crashed when I found him. I think he broke his ankle...and he didn't look too good. He told me what to do to stop the cannon."

"Where do you think you're going?" Tails heard Shadow ask Knuckles.

"I've got company. Find Sonic!" Knuckles told Tails, grimly. Tails wanted to ask 'But what about you', but Knuckles had turned his communicator off.

"Who was that and what did they say?" Amy shrilly demanded.

"It was Knux. He said Sonic's alive, but he's hurt. We've got to find Sonic...Knux is going to stop the cannon."

"So...is he gonna be okay?" Amy asked. Tails knew she didn't mean Knuckles.

"We'll find out. C'm on," he declared, landing in the cockpit of the walker and moving it towards the door. Tails was still worried. He wanted to help Sonic, but he also wanted to help Knuckles. He didn't like to send Amy to find Sonic on her own. Though he could trust her to protect Sonic with her life, he could not trust her not to be captured by Eggman again on the way. He had no idea where the villain was, nor if he had any weaponry other than the Eggwalker. He would have to accompany her first, and hope they found Sonic quickly.

"I'm heading down a runway that leads straight past the Eclipse Cannon... Where do you think I'm going?" Knuckles told Shadow sarcastically. He swiped out with a spiked fist, thumping the black hedgehog as he pushed past. This did little more than enrage him.

"I see. And where's that blue hedgehog?" Shadow said, catching up with Knuckles and running alongside him.

"What makes you think I even know him?" Knuckles replied.

"That fake chaos emerald you're carrying," Shadow answered. Tired of the verbal battle, Knuckles struck Shadow as hard as he could with his free fist. Shadow was unprepared for the echidna's strength; he lost his footing and fell over the edge of the runway.

"Chaos Control!" Knuckles heard him yell. That meant he had a chaos emerald too, didn't it? So why was he so interested in getting this one? He saw a familiar flash of light up ahead. Shadow did not take as long to arrive as Sonic had, and attacked again instantly.

"Chaos Spear!" he yelled, holding a blue chaos emerald aloft. The gem glowed brightly.

Several sharp spikes flew towards Knuckles. He leapt; desperately trying to avoid them, but the ground shook when they struck it. Part of the runway in front of Knuckles cracked and broke away. Knuckles leapt... and just barely managed to grab the edge of the runway above, where the section he had been standing on had snapped off. He clung on with one hand, trying to pull himself back up, still grasping the fake emerald firmly with one hand. Shadow's face appeared above, when he looked over to see what had happened to the echidna. Knuckles struck him over the muzzle with the fake chaos emerald. Shadow winced, then grabbed hold of Knuckles' wrist, trying to take the emerald. Knuckles made use of the extra leverage, and finally managed to pull himself back onto the runway. With his free hand, he punched Shadow's paw, digging the spiked knuckles in deep. The hedgehog pulled free then raised his emerald for another attack.

Laser fire struck the runway. Tails had arrived, flying above in the Cyclone.

"Tails? CATCH!" Knuckles yelled, throwing the fake chaos emerald up towards him. The kitsune gasped, flipping off the Cyclone's booster jet and swerving violently, reaching out for the emerald. His outstretched paws missed, but the emerald was caught in the Cyclone's oversized feet. Tails gingerly reached down, seized the emerald then fired his jets again, dodging Shadow's attack.

"Throw it into the Cannon's barrel!" Knuckles yelled. 'Well, of course,' Tails thought, making towards the Cannon. Something grabbed Knuckles from behind.

"So you do have a real emerald after all," Shadow exclaimed. He grabbed the shrunken Master Emerald from Knuckle's backpack and tore away, back down the runway. Enraged, Knuckles charged after him, one fist pulled back prepared to deal a possibly killing punch.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow yelled. To Knuckles' horror, he held up the shrunken Master Emerald instead of his blue one.

A streak of green lightening ripped through the surrounding space making a loud fizzing sound. Knuckles began to run. The crack, suspended in space gradually split apart, revealing a hole filled with a dazzling bright emerald green light. It was hot...Knuckles could fell it beginning to burn his shoulder blades even though he was now a considerable distance away. Of Tails, he'd lost sight.

The heat intensified as the crack blazed still wider. It had grown so large that it hung in the space between Shadow and Knuckles like a star gone supernova. When Shadow teleported away, holding his blue chaos emerald aloft he saw three immense 'chaos spears' erupting from the green sun, glowing white-hot.

Knuckles had reached the relative safety of the space station where the runway began. Daring to turn for a moment, he saw that the crack had shrunken back down to a mere line of light before it winked out completely. The source of power had been severed after Shadow's teleport, so the destruction had been cut short. The three 'chaos spears' had destroyed most of the runway, and what small fragments remained at the far end had drifted off into the endless gulf of space. Apparently, Shadow had disrupted whatever passed for gravity out there, though inside the space station, Knuckles' feet were still in firm contact with the ground. Alarms were wailing everywhere. The echidna jumped backwards when the door he had been peering out of snapped shut and sealed. Obviously some sort of safety mechanism, activated if something went wrong with the gravity outside.

Knuckles expression was grim as he headed further into the building. Placed several dozen meters above the runway, the Eclipse Cannon had avoided any damage, so far as he'd seen. He'd have to tell Sonic and Amy that he'd lost the fake chaos emerald, and if Shadow had survived, then he now had that extra chaos emerald he'd been searching for. He'd lost the Master Emerald...But worst of all, he'd lost Tails.


	3. Tails' Plan

Eggman stood in front of the control bank for the Cannon where five of the seven chaos emeralds rested in their slots. Shadow had one, and he had gone to retrieve the other from the heroes. Eggman remained convinced that they had two, a real one and that fake. How else would Tails have managed to build such an accurate replicate? Or power the Cyclone's main cannon? Eggman was still in awe of Tails, the kitsune was merely a child, and yet he'd built a mechanical walker strong enough to defeat Robotnik's own, and there was that emerald he'd built. If he had not been so easily tricked, he could have proven very dangerous for Eggman and his plans. Perhaps he might be coerced away from the side of the heroes now his idol was dead...

Eggman paced impatiently. The so-called 'Ultimate Life form' was taking too much time. There were a mere five minutes left until Eggman was due to fulfil his threat- and without those two chaos emeralds, he couldn't meet the deadline...

What was that? It sounded like something was advancing rapidly down the barrel of the cannon! Something big and metal. There was a thump as it became wedged in the barrel. Eggman rushed to his machine, wondering what to do. He stared upwards, trying to see up into the hole in the ceiling where the barrel began. It was dark up there, but he thought he could just see the gleam of blue metal. Behind him, blue light flashed.

"I have the emeralds, Doctor," the deep, haunting voice of Shadow exclaimed. Eggman turned.

"What took you so long? Don't just stand there, load them into the cannon!" He fumed. They both faced the machine, looking upwards again. It sounded like there was some sort of animal up there, frantically pulling at something wedged in the cannon's barrel.

"What's wrong with you?" A deep but feminine voice caught Knuckles' attention. He gritted his teeth. Rouge! He had hoped he had seen the last of her.

"Why should you care, Bat Girl?" he mumbled, not even looking at her as he passed. She noticed his empty, torn rucksack.

"Where's your emerald? Did Shadow steal it?" Rouge shouted after him. Knuckles ignored her, so she flew after him.

"He did, didn't he? Eggman needed one more emerald to fire the cannon, and Shadow's given him yours!" Rouge continued.

"Shut up," Knuckles moaned. The last thing he needed right now was someone mocking him about his failure. Mobius and the Floating Island were at the mercy of Eggman, and it was his fault. He did not need reminding.

"So why the hell aren't you headed for the control room to stop Eggman firing the Cannon? It has to charge up before it can fire, you know," Rouge said. Knuckles didn't know. He stopped and stared up at her.

"I don't know the way," he said. He could have followed his emerald sense, of course, but it was difficult to follow it accurately in a building. Rouge sighed.

"I'll show you," She said. She flew ahead of the echidna a little way, but he did not follow.

"Why would you do that?" Knuckles demanded. 

"Look, 'kidna, I'm not the enemy. I was sent by the government to spy on Eggman. Your jewel was just a...tempting extra that I happened to discover. I knew he was there when he tried to steal it-I was following him. I do not work for Eggman!"

"Why should you want to help me?" Knuckles said, suspiciously. Rouge squealed with frustration.

"Why must you be so stubborn? Mobius is my home too!" she shouted. "And you did help me," she added, in softer tones. "You saved my life. I owe you. Now come on!" Knuckles followed her when she took off again. This way he would not have to tell Sonic and Amy that he'd failed, just yet. And if Rouge were tricking him, she would pay dearly.

"There's some sort of animal up there, Doctor!" Shadow said.

"Well...get it out!" Robotnik cried, baffled.

"I don't think that's possible without damaging the Cannon," Shadow said, inspecting the base of the cannon, where several spheres rotated in mid air. Staring at the machine, capable of such destruction, Shadow felt chilled. What would happen if it were charged with the green gem that he had stolen from the echidna? It looked like an ordinary chaos emerald, but it was clearly far more powerful.

"Give me those emeralds!" Eggman said, snatching the green one. "We'll fire the cannon anyway. Whatever it is up there, it'll be disintegrated by the blast anyway."

The Cannon emitted a small squeal, and the scuffling noises became more frantic. Eggman ignored them, placing the green emerald in place and roughly yanking the blue emerald from Shadow's grasp. He made some speech about having the world at his mercy and the power this cannon gave him. Shadow was not listening. The creature in the barrel had stopped moving, but he could hear it crying now. The pathetic sound made Shadow uneasy. The creature was terrified and helpless. Shadow could hardly bare to listen to its suffering. This was not what Maria would want. This was not what he wanted. Suddenly, he leapt forward and grabbed the green emerald from its slot. It was smouldering hot, so he threw it across the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Eggman screamed at him. Shadow looked up to meet his gaze, but was distracted by the monitor above it. It showed a flashing red warning sign that had hitherto remained unnoticed. As he stared, the face of Gerald Robotnik appeared. Eggman turned and followed Shadow's gaze.

"It is my grandfather!" he muttered in astonishment. The figure on the monitor began to speak. Behind Eggman, a large dent appeared in the ceiling. Shadow looked up as another dent appeared. Something was firing down at the ceiling from above! He assumed a defensive stance. Part of the ceiling began to cave in.

"STOP! Give me back my emerald!" Knuckles and Rouge arrived just in time to see Tails' Cyclone fall through the ceiling. Tails dropped down after it, landing heavily in the cockpit. Then the entire space Colony began to move.

"Tails!" Knuckles exclaimed. He looked immensely relieved.

"What's going on?" Shadow demanded. In his panic, Eggman had barely noticed the sudden arrivals. He had been frantically jabbing at the console, and finding it would not respond, was now racing towards the door.

"It's a self destruct programme my grandfather set up! We're set for a direct collision with Mobius!" he cried, disappearing down the corridor.

Shadow turned and glared around the room. Knuckles had retrieved his emerald, and tenderly inspected it for damage. Rouge had produced a small device, which she was shouting into, and Tails was tending to his Cyclone. The blast caused by Shadow using Chaos Spear with the master emerald, had ricocheted Tails directly into the barrel of the Cannon. He was unhurt, by the Cyclone was badly dented, and the right leg had been melted by the heat of the explosion, rendering it useless. Tails had eventually managed to blast a hole in the ceiling of this room by firing at the inside of the Cannon's barrel with the Cyclone's weapons. A moment ago, Shadow had pitied this creature, and now he felt no desire to attack Tails. That echidna on the other hand...

"It's all true," Rouge said, to no one in particular. She had said it quite softly, but in such a tone, that everyone turned to face her. She wandered over to a window. "Come and see for yourselves. You can just about see Mobius in the distance. We are headed for a direct collision, and at the speed we're travelling...we'll be destroyed on impact. And so will Mobius..." Knuckles joined her at the window. From here, Mobius was still a smallish blue and green sphere with mottled white and grey wisps of cloud drifting around it. It was beautiful; but its presence directly in front of the space Colony was ominous.

Shadow joined them to see for himself, but Tails seemed afraid to look. Instead, he had climbed back into the cockpit, turned the machine on, and fussed with the onboard computer.

"What are you doing Fo-...Tails?" Rouge asked.

"I'm looking for the power source of the Colony," said Tails. "If we could find that and destroy it...maybe that would stop the Colony colliding with Mobius." Rouge stared over the kitsune's shoulder.

"You hacked into the colonies' computer files?" She cried in wonder. Tails nodded.

"Most of them. Some were locked by and entirely different security code, I couldn't get into those. I guess they had to do with the programme Gerald Robotnik set up," Tails said, solemnly. His console beeped, and he opened the file it had found.

"That's about Shadow...I thought you were looking for the Colony's power source?" Rouge said.

"I was...?" said Tails, sounding genuinely confused. He scrolled the page down to reveal crude sketch of a creature nothing like the black hedgehog they had known by that name. It was a grotesque lizard like creature carrying a large black cube on its back. A lattice of thick wires fed from something on its back to something that was not included in the sketch. The Colony's power source was this creature. And this creature was Shadow.

"What are you doing?" the black hedgehog demanded, shoving Tails roughly aside, so he could see the computer screen. For several long moments, he leant heavily on Tails' shoulders while he read the text frantically. He growled. He made a lunge at the computer screen, but Knuckles ceased him from behind, tearing him away from the Cyclone. Shadow yanked himself free from the echidna's grasp, and Knuckles rose, ready to fight.

"Later, 'kidna!" Shadow spat. He leapt to his feet, and skated fast through the door. From outside the room, they heard Amy squeak Shadow's name in surprise, before she appeared, helping Sonic to walk.

"Tails!" they both cried. "No need to explain things, we saw the ...uh...broadcast." Sonic added; referring to Gerald Robotnik's recorded speech. "Hey you don't still have those files you stole from 'botnik's computer, do yah?" 

"We've been reading them," said Rouge. With Amy's help, Sonic hobbled over to the Cyclone, where he shock himself free of her grasp and leant against the left side of Tails' walker, watching the screen. His hands felt unusually cold on the kitsune's shoulders, and he seemed short of breath.

"That's the power core?" Sonic exclaimed, astonished.

"Seems that way," Tails replied. "But if we take out this creature...and the backup generator...that should stop the Colony colliding with Mobius."

"Okay. Let's do this!" Sonic commanded, forgetting his ankle and standing upright. Everyone winced. "Or maybe not." he sighed, sitting next to the Cyclone. "Guess I'm outta the action." Rouge made a scoffing sound.

"...You could borrow my Cyclone!" Tails suggested. The hedgehog brightened.

"Could I?" he asked, grinning.

"Sure. The right leg's completely melted, but it can still fly, and the weapons seem okay."

"Shouldn't someone go after Shadow... he seemed sorta upset?" Amy said. 

"Why don't you go?" Knuckles retorted, in a tone tainted with distaste. The pink hedgehog frowned at him and went stamping out of the room. Rouge glanced thoughtfully towards the door then took off after Amy in the next instant.

"Where d'you 'spose 'Botnik got too?" Sonic asked, fiddling with the controls in Tails' Cyclone. It rose into the air, and hovered in place.

"We don't have time to worry about that," Knuckles said, grimly. 

"Right. You guys go after the backup generator. I'll wait here for Amy and Rouge. Meet us back here as soon as you can. That way no-one will get lost...I hope," Tails said.


	4. Nobody said it was easy

Sonic stalled the Cyclone and turned, releasing a low growling sigh of frustration and annoyance. The echidna, hanging three quarters of the way up a wall, crouched like a cat, wore a blank expression, unsure what he was supposed to have done to anger the hedgehog.

"Quit it!" Sonic grunted, irritably. He felt too hot, his ankle was throbbing, and his head was spinning. That made flying the Cyclone difficult enough, without a large echidna gliding uneasily from wall to wall, as he followed behind. Each impact the echidna made sent a fiery flash of pain slicing through Sonic's skull. "Just walk," Knuckles glared back for a moment, but something he caught in the returning gaze made him release his grip on the wall and land heavily on the floor. Sonic winced.

"You alright?" Knuckles enquired.

"Fine...just walk quietly..." Sonic grumbled. He started up the Cyclone again, and Knuckles ran behind, grumbling.

"You should have let Tails take the Cyclone whilst you waited for Rouge and Amy. He could have done this on his own, while I took out the main power source...but you always have to play the hero."

Sonic began to respond, but at that moment alarms burst into life up and down the corridor, their high pitched screams drowning out his retort. He moaned and covered his ears. 'Warning! Warning! Oxygen and gravity levels severely depleted in exterior sectors seven through eleven! All personnel are to remain inside and report to your workstations immediately!' a feminine computerised voice commanded over the alarms.

"What's that mean?" Knuckles cried, fearfully.

"Means we shouldn't of let Eggman get away! You wanna add that to your list?" Sonic snapped back sarcastically. Mercifully, the alarms had ceased to shriek, but small red lights on the walls continued to flicker.

Shadow had not gone far. Rouge and Amy found him alone, staring down at Mobius through a large window, murmuring something about Maria. He did not even notice the girls as they entered, but slouched down on the ledge in front of the window with his head bowed low. Boldly, Amy wandered over and sat down next to him.

"Who is Maria?" she asked, softly. Shadow turned, scowled, and shifted his gaze to the ceiling. "Shadow?"

"She was the only one who ever cared," he replied, flatly. In the silence that followed, Amy gingerly stretched out her paw and gave Shadow's a small squeeze. She could not bear to see anyone this upset, even though Shadow had helped the enemy. Shadow stared down at her paw, numbly.

"What happened?" Amy asked, gently.

"...They killed her," Shadow responded bitterly. Amy gasped in sympathy, as Shadow rubbed his muzzle with the back of his free hand. She was almost sure that he wiped away a few tears. Amy wanted to hug him, but did not quite dare, fearing how he would react. Shadow turned, to gaze out at Mobius below. To Amy it seemed terrifyingly close now.

"We used to talk about what is could be like down there...on Mobius...she made it sound so peaceful...perfect. But when the humans came here, they came as ruthless killers."

"They came to defend their planet. There was good evidence and reason to believe that Gerald Robotnik was creating a powerful weapon up here, and experimenting to create 'the ultimate life form'. There were fears that he might use these against Mobius."

"Maria was no threat to them," Shadow insisted. "When they imprisoned me I swore I would avenge Maria's death. Today she will have her revenge... When the space Colony collides with Mobius, all will be destroyed," he explained, appearing perfectly calm considering he had just prophesised his own certain death. Amy wailed and began to cry.

"I don' wanna die!" she wailed. No one spoke for a while as Shadow stared at Amy, hoping she would stop crying. She was starting to remind him of Tails when he'd been trapped in the Cannon's barrel. Finally, Rouge spoke.

"Shadow...the humans came because of the Eclipse Cannon, and that thing at the Colony's power source. If you helped us to defeat it, you would have revenge against the real thing responsible for Maria's death... and you would save millions of lives...do you really think that Maria would want the whole planet sacrificed for her? And Amy, next to you...wouldn't she want to help her? There are thousands like Amy down there...everyone is equally as helpless...everyone is just as scared. Is this really what Maria would have wanted?" The black hedgehog did not answer her, but continued to stare at Amy. Eventually, Amy sniffed, rubbed her tears away, and stared back pleadingly at Shadow.

"Won't you help us, Shadow?" she asked, with wide, sad eyes. Shadow looked at the floor.

"Won't you even help us for Maria?" Rouge asked, sitting on the other side of him to Amy. "...Sh-"

"Stop calling me that! It's that thing at the power source. That is Shadow...I don't even know who I am anymore!" Shadow yelled.

"What did Maria call you?" Rouge asked.

"SHADOW! She called me Shadow...all I have to remember her by are my own memories...and after seeing those files on that thing...how do I know that my own memories are real?" Shadow wailed. He buried his face in his paws. This time, Amy did hug him, but he stiffened under her touch.

"You prove it," Rouge said, eventually. "If you defeat the creature at the power source, that will prove that you are truly Shadow, The Ultimate Life form, and that thing is just a failed experiment with the same name. You'll prove that you are Shadow, and that Maria was real!" 

"Won't you do that, Shadow? Please?" Amy whimpered. Shadow stood.

"I will do it. I will do it for Maria. Her death must still be avenged."

"Y-you'll help us?" Amy cried, barely daring to believe the success of she and Rouge's pleading.

"I will help you," Shadow stated flatly.

"What now?" Knuckles demanded. Sonic had shut down the Cyclone again.

"Grab on," he said, firing at a lock mechanism on the door in front so that it slid open. "We've got to cross that."

'That' was the space in between the building they were in and one in the near distance. Between them, on either side of the gap floated two rows of large purple and green rings, which emitted a low continuous hum. GUN robots spiralled all around, firing aimlessly. Knuckles groaned, securing a firm grip on the side of the Cyclone.

"Just try not to crash it," he told Sonic.

"No problem!" The hedgehog restarted the Cyclone, and floated into the abyss outside. Immediately the walker began spinning helplessly like the GUN robots. Several of these detected the alien craft and fired. Sonic clung grimly onto the controls, one paw directing the Cyclone and the other jammed constantly on both the lock-on and fire buttons. Search beams and laser fire scattered aimlessly. Aiming was practically impossible out here since the target had moved almost as soon as the search beams had found it, but some enemy fire zinged past, dangerously close to the Cyclone. In an instant, a GUN robot appeared in front of Sonic and fired. The hedgehog heard Knuckles yell as he swerved and returned the fire.

"Knux?" Sonic cried, leaning over the side of the Cyclone. A spiked glove shoved him roughly aside.

"STEER, you idiot!" the echidna growled, grabbing at the controls. The Cyclone lurched violently. More laser fire hit the underneath of the Cyclone. Slowly, Sonic pulled himself upright again in time to see where they were now headed thanks to Knuckles' questionable piloting skills. They were due to miss the doorway he had been aiming for by a couple of metres and crash into the solid wall below.

"KNUX!" Sonic screamed, ceasing the controls again, and pressing the button that he hoped would set them back on the right course. At least some of the random weapons fire had hit the locks of the door he'd been aiming for and it had slid open. A thump on the underneath of the Cyclone vibrated over the whole walker as it floated in through the door, just barely, scraping the edge of the floor as it entered.

They landed a few meters inside the building. Knuckles scrambled out of the walker, scowling with revulsion as Sonic wretched over the side. Spinning around in zero gravity had not done his stomach any favours.

"How far is the generator now?" Knuckles asked.

"Should be just beyond these doors," Sonic replied, shooting the locks open. Directly in front of them now, was a solid metal wall. It was directly below that counted.

A tunnel reached downwards for at least twenty meters. Geometric patterns of lasers bisected it at intervals. There were creatures floating around down there, which looked like little more than blobs of water with mechanical heads. But they seemed somehow menacing. Perhaps it was the vicious slant of their yellow green eyes, or how the heaving and flopping of their clumsy bodies suggested they were breathing.

"And down there," Sonic added. Knuckles groaned.

"Try and steer properly this time!" he warned, griping onto the Cyclone.

"Least there's gravity," Sonic stated. He fired the Cyclone's engines again and began the descent.

The laser patterns were easily navigated, but as the walker warily approached the first of the floating creatures, two thin tentacles stretched out of its body, reaching hungrily for the Cyclone. Sonic swerved violently to the left to avoid them, but the limbs stretched with elasticity and ceased Knuckles by the waist. He shuddered, feeling the cold clammy touch of the creature piercing his flesh. The creature pulled, slowly becoming stronger by draining the echidna's energy in sharp bursts, which burned and stung. All around, the air blazed with laser fire; some from above as Sonic tried to target the creature, and more from below, from the creature returning his fire with beams that shot from its eyes. Knuckles' arms were stretched to the limit; he could almost feel the strength ebbing away. One paw almost pulled loose, but Sonic grabbed the wrist, leaving only one paw free to operate the Cyclone. The walker lurched, threatening to plunge recklessly down the tunnel into whatever lay below.

The jolt disrupted Sonic's aim, and a shot ricocheted off one of the creature's tentacles, striking its head. There was the sound of boiling water amplified; the creature gave one last desperate yank, finally wrenching Knuckles from the Cyclone, before it dissolved as a shower of rain.

"KNUX!"

Sonic shut off the Cyclone's engines, to plummet after his friend, ignoring the lasers that burned and melted the base of the walker, and the blue creatures, which reached out feverishly with long, thin feelers. He shot past Knuckles, and fired the engines, seconds before hitting the pool of boiling green liquid below. Knuckles landed on the Cyclone seconds later, and gripped the barrel weakly. He looked utterly exhausted. Sonic made for a platform on the far wall and set the Cyclone down.

"You okay?" he asked, with concern. Knuckles had slid off the side of the walker, and was lying on the floor, panting. Eventually he sat upright.

"Those things...they suck out all your energy..." he said. He got carefully to his feet. "I'll be alright. Where's that generator?"

"Uh, just through here, should be," said Sonic, grinning slightly, and indicating a door ahead. Knuckles shot him a glare.

But beyond the door, the machine was there. It was enormous, covering an entire wall, on the far side of a pool of boiling green liquid. Perhaps that is what fuelled it. The visible surface was covered with small robots, which fired lasers upon detecting the Cyclone's presence.

"Take a time out Knux, I'll handle this," Sonic said. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Was there any point in me coming?" he asked sarcastically. Sonic sighed.

"I just figured you could use a rest, after that creature attacked you," he said, returning the small robots' fire. Knuckles lent against a metal container, and watched him impassively.


	5. Sabotage!

When Sonic and Knuckles had gone, Tails had wandered over to the window and looked out at Mobius below. At sight of the planet, he let out an involuntary whimper. He worried that his plan wouldn't work. It should but what if it didn't? Mobius was still a considerable distance away, and already he could feel a cold terror rising inside. How would it feel when the Mobius blotted out the view from this window? And what would actually happen when they collided? Would it hurt?

Suddenly, Tails leapt back from the window as though it had stung him. Some things are just too terrifying to even think about. He started wandering around impatiently. His friends had only been gone a few minutes at the most, but it already felt like hours. He wished they'd just hurry. He was moving around the room staring mostly at his feet, but not really caring where they carried him. His tails dropped to the floor, wagging slightly with agitation, and his paws were clasped loosely together behind his back. His ears were slightly flattened, and his eyes were wide and watery.

His foot hit the base of the Eclipse Cannon with a loud clang. He glanced up to see the emeralds resting in their slots beside the Cannon's barrel, and the gash he had blasted in the ceiling. He had been able to hear Robotnik and Shadow talking from up there, so he had known that Eggman planned to fire the Cannon while he was trapped in the barrel. Before, they'd heard him crawling around in the cockpit of the Cyclone, trying to dislodge it from the Cannon's barrel and fly out of there... Then Robotnik had placed the last of the emeralds into the slot, and Tails could hear the hum of the weapon charging, and felt a soft vibration pulsing through the barrel. His situation had seemed utterly hopeless. The Cyclone hadn't moved an inch, despite all his pushing and pulling. He had curled up in the Cyclone, and wept in bitter frustration. At the time he hadn't know what had made the cannon stop, but he had a vague idea that Shadow had saved his life. There was an emerald missing from the slot, and Knuckles had retrieved his from the corner of the room...perhaps Shadow had yanked it from the machine and flung it across the room...but why? Why stop the Cannon from firing after he had helped to get it working?

Tails stood regarding the emeralds, idly picking one up and turning it over in his paws. Better take these with them when they went to face the creature at the power source. They needed seven, one was still missing, possibly back on Mobius some where, but the Eclipse Cannon had worked with Knuckles' master emerald replacing the seventh...maybe if he'd lend it...Still, if they had the emeralds then Eggman wouldn't, and that was a start. Tails hopped down from the Eclipse Cannon podium with a red emerald in his paw, and stuffed it into his tool bag. Then he dragged the bag over and shoved the others in. As he reached for the last, he froze, guilty. A single set of footsteps approached loudly.

The owner entered, with eyes fixed on his destination; the console beside the Eclipse Cannon. On sight of him, Tails had grabbed his bag, and vanished behind the hexagonal wall, which formerly held the emeralds. Now he lay on the floor, listening. Eggman crossed the floor, grunted at the empty emerald slots, sat down at the console and began typing. Tails crouched perfectly still, not daring to move, least he be discovered. Eggman worked for some ten minutes before they heard the first alert:

'Warning! Warning! Oxygen and gravity levels severely depleted in exterior sectors seven through eleven! All personnel are to remain inside and report to your workstations immediately!'

Robotnik sniggered as though the electronic voice had shared a particularly funny joke. He stayed working for a further twenty minutes, which seemed like hours to Tails. He lay in wait, worrying about the announcement. His fur glowed red every time the flickering warning light shone above.

Finally, Eggman jabbed a key with a decisive thud and scraped his chair backward across the floor. Tails heard him stamp out and down the corridor. Gingerly, the kitsune emerged from his hiding place and crept over to the console to view the screen. The message there sent a cold chill shivering down his spine.

CONTROLS LOCKED

LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS SHUTDOWN INITIATED

ESTIAMATED TIME UNTIL COMPLETE SHUTDOWN

00:59:45

Tails jabbed at the keyboard, watching the seconds tick by. Nothing happened. Eggman intended to sabotage the mission. Tails moaned fearfully. With no backup generator to support them, the life support systems would have shut down anyway, once the main power source was destroyed...but as Tails' entire plan had included using the time left before the oxygen became un-breathable to find a way home. Of course they would probably have to stop the Colony in less than an hour, but this message meant more than how much time they had. It meant Eggman was determined to stop any plans they had, and would stop at nothing within his power. Tails flicked on his communicator and yelled for Sonic.

"Tails? What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Eggman has...started a programme to shut down the life support systems,"

"WHAT?"

"This computer won't respond to anything, we've got just under an hour to complete shutdown...did you-"

"Shut down the backup generator? Sure, we're on our way back," Sonic told him.

"Hurry!"

"Sure thing. Sonic out."

"Bye..." Tails said into the dead communicator. He longed for company. The waiting was becoming almost unbearable, now he had little more to do than watch the numbers tick by on the console's display. Every minute was one wasted until Mobius was safe.

'Oxygen and gravity levels severely depleted in exterior sectors five through fifteen! Life support in interior areas 13 and 14 un-operational. Locking entrances.' Said the computerised voice.

Tails sighed mournfully and flopped down to sit on a window ledge. His attention was drawn to the blinking lights surrounding six giant purple and green rings floating in space, just below the window. What were those rings for? Every time you looked out of a window up here on the Ark, there was a set of those rings in the near distance. They probably surrounded every inch of the Colony.

As he watched, the lights dulled and switched off. He stared, suddenly amazed. For a few moments, nothing more happened. Then, slowly, the purple and green rings drifted gently away from the Colony. The computerised voice made another announcement, this time mentioning outer sectors one to sixteen. Tails froze, realising what the rings were for ...since the life support failed outside when they were off, they must either contain the atmosphere or generate it artificially somehow. Tails wished he had his Cyclone ...his stolen maps would show which sector he was in. Mentally, he willed Sonic to hurry.


	6. Teamwork

Soon, Amy and Rouge arrived, with Shadow in tow. Tails told them that Sonic and Knuckles were on the way. Shadow seemed mildly surprised to hear that he was about to meet Sonic again.

"So he did survive..."

"He used my fake emerald for Chaos Control," Tails said, almost with a hint of pride.

"A fake?" Shadow murmured. He paused, figuring something out. "I'm not sure how it works exactly...but using a fake emerald...it might work on machines, but they are not the same as living things...if the energies inside the emerald are slightly different, it could be dangerous."

Tails hung his head, looking worried. Of course the emerald was slightly different...It was designed to explode when in contact with a real one!

Rouge examined the computer screen.

"Robotnik came in while I was waiting, and I hid. He did that," Tails told her. She studied the kid, as if she was trying to tell if he was telling the truth...but why would Tails do this? Rouge sighed.

"Did he take the emeralds too?"

"No, I put them in my tool bag before he came," Tails said, then showed her. Rouge's eyes glistened.

"Beautiful aren't they?"

"Yes," said Tails. "And very powerful if you have all seven. The seventh is missing, we never had it, but the Eclipse Cannon worked with six chaos emeralds and Knuckles' master... he probably won't let anyone use it though..." He trailed off hearing footsteps approaching. Rouge peered around the door.

"Speak of the devil...here he comes now, with Sonic."

"Soniiiiiiic!" Amy squealed, rushing out to hug him.

"Take the emeralds anyway. Just one can be powerful if used properly," Shadow told Tails, who scooped up his bag and flew out to meet Sonic.

"Budge up," he said, leaning into the Cyclone's cockpit to reach his console. He retrieved the maps of the Colony, located his information on the main power source, and growled under his breath.

"What?" asked Sonic.

"It's the security. To get thought to the power core, you need to activate two switches...and the route to either of them leads away from the security doors they open. And then the most direct route to the power source is heavily guarded of course. We don't have time for this!" Tails complained. "Look at this list!" he cried, jabbing a finger at his screen. Sonic leaned over his shoulder to read. It was a maintenance list, noting the guardian robots and their numbers, then describing in more detail the obstacles and traps and instructions on how they should be repaired and maintained.

"Looks like fun," he commented, in a careless tone. "But we've gotta do this fast, so we'll have to split up. Me and Knux'll take care of these robots...we could use your help though..." he added, talking to Shadow. The black hedgehog came over to glare at the security statistics.

"I'll need an emerald," he said by way of reply. Tails reached for his bag, but hesitated.

"Give him one!" Amy encouraged. Reluctantly, Tails reached into the bag and fished out the blue emerald. When he handed it to Shadow, Tails half expected him to yell 'Chaos Control' and vanish, but he simply accepted it and leant against the wall to wait.

"I could find one of the switches," Rouge offered. She joined Tails by the Cyclone. "Let's see the route." Tails showed her. He felt more inclined to trust her, so long as the chaos emeralds weren't involved.

"Can you remember the way?" he asked. Rouge nodded, studying the map, so he pulled a small communication device from his tool bag and handed it to her. "Take this with you this time. We'll need to keep in touch."

"I want to help out!" Amy piped up. The others exchanged tired glances, but Tails thought of how awful the waiting had been for him, back in the Eclipse Cannon room. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"Do you have your hammer?" he asked her. Amy grinned, and pulled out a small device from her pocket. She pressed a button and the hammer lengthened and folded out to its full size like an umbrella.

"Okay, you go after the second switch," he said, handing her his last communication device. "Be careful with this," he warned. "I'll head for the shuttle bay, there may be one we can use to get home."

"Maybe...but I followed Robotnik here in a space transporter...still he may have destroyed that already...same with any shuttles..."

"Yes, but I might be able to repair one," Tails said. He paused interrupted by the computer moaning about more life support systems going offline. "I did build the Cyclone!"

"And our plane, the Tornado," Sonic added, proudly. "Our way home is in good hands, so let's make sure there's once to get back to."

"Good luck everyone!" Tails called, as they split separate ways.

Rouge soared upwards, reaching out for the ledge above. Behind her, the water poured freely, submerging the switch that she'd just pressed. 

Directly after she had completed her task, there'd been a brief sound like the noise made by latches opening and a putrid yellow liquid streamed out of every exit from the room. Rouge grabbed the ledge and swung up, hearing a startled yell.

"Amy! What are you doing here; I thought you went after the other switch?" Rouge scolded in the way some do when they've had a small shock.

"I am! The route Tails showed me leads here. But that door won't open, and I found a small switch thing above that room over there, but nothing happened," Amy explained, pointing to the things she had mentioned. " I thought it maybe opened something down there."

"The switch I went after is down there. You sure you haven't gone past it?" said Rouge.

"Uh huh," Amy nodded confidently. "The water came up after I pressed the switch up there...so maybe it's to stop you looking around down there because the other switch is somewhere around there."

"Take a look then," Rouge sighed. Amy sat on the ledge, dangling her feet over the water, as though she was about to slide in, but regarded Rouge with large pleading eyes. 

"Come with me?" she asked.

"You got this far on your own," said Rouge, not welcoming the thought of diving into the water.

"Please? I'll get there faster if you help me!" Amy moaned. Glaring into her pleading eyes, Rouge sighed. Better make sure she found the switch. Everyone was depending on her.

"We shouldn't let these get wet," she said, holding her communication device. Amy flipped one end of her hammer open.

"They'll be okay in here."

"Where'd you get that, anyway?" Rouge asked, handing her device over.

"Tails made it for me," Amy told her. She snapped her hammer closed. "C'm on."

She dived gracefully into the water. Rouge dipped one finger in, scowled in disgust, and followed her.

Knuckles, running slightly ahead of the others, skidded to a halt, and growled out a long sigh.

"What's up?" Sonic called. He caught up with Knuckles and understood the problem. He stopped the Cyclone. Shadow joined them, seeming confused.

"We've seen those creatures before," Sonic explained, pointing to the thirty or so floating blue blobs in the room ahead. "They shoot out tentacles, drain all your energy. They're fast." Shadow regarded the creatures silently.

"I can paralyse them with my emerald. Hit them before the effect wears off," he told them. He ran towards the creatures, raised his emerald aloft and cried "Chaos Control!" The creatures froze. Moments later they were reduced to suspended pools of water.

"Nice one!" Sonic called out to Shadow, impressed. But as Shadow crossed the room to join him and Knuckles, the effect of the chaos emerald vanished and Shadow was soaked. At sight of him with sopping wet fur clinging limply to his frame, his quills misshapen and drooping to the floor, streaming with water, Sonic clapped a paw over his muzzle trying to retain the laughter. He met Shadow's expressionless eyes, and the laugh exploded out with a loud snorting noise. Shadow raised his head, walked slowly over to the Cyclone and stood beside it, waiting. Sonic recovered quickly and sat up to meet Shadow's stony gaze. The black hedgehog crouched slightly. Then he shook like a dog, showering Sonic with hundreds of water droplets. He straightened, fixing his spines.

"Funny," he stated, regarding Sonic for a few moments, before proceeding down the tunnel ahead of them. Sonic and Knuckles exchanged unsure glances, and followed him.

Rouge and Amy reached a room filled with lasers, and raced for the surface gasping for air. Water flowed from the room, through the passage behind them causing a strong current, but Rouge had overcome this obstacle by digging the spikes in her gloves into the walls and pulling against the current, flapping her wings for extra momentum, with Amy clinging on. Now Amy realised that her hammer was talking, and it was beginning to panic. She retrieved her communicator from inside.

"Hello?" She asked into it.

"Amy, there you are!" Tails sighed with relief. "Did you find the switch yet? I can't contact Rouge...Sonic and the others are waiting by the security doors!"

"Its okay, she's with me. She got one switch, we're looking for the other one," Amy told him.

"Why'd you take so long to answer?"

"We were underwater...and we've got to go under again to find the switch, so I gotta go," Amy told him.

"Tell Sonic when you find the switch. Good luck," Tails replied.

"Bye Tailsy!" Amy told the device, placing it back in her hammer.

"You ready?" Rouge asked, impatiently. Amy gave a single nod and they dived below again swimming nimbly past the lasers, and Rouge climbing around the walls, clawing against the current through the tunnels below. Having turned three corners, with their lungs now painfully gasping for air, they found the switch. Amy gave it a hearty whack with her hammer, and to their relief, the water began to drain away. Amy swam up to meet the surface, choking.

"You okay?" Rouge said when the choking subsided. Amy nodded weakly. She opened her hammer, and gave Rouge back her communicator.

"How'd you work this thing...oh wait, I got it..." Rouge muttered, fumbling with the device.

"Hello? Sonic, can you hear me?

"Sure can, Rouge. We know you found the switch; the doors are open. Nice job. We'll meet you at the power source. Take care," Sonic told her.

"Someone's in a hurry," Rouge grumbled, pocketing the now silent device.

"Yeah," moaned Amy. "I didn't even get to talk to him." Rouge shot her a weary glance. Then she pointed upwards.

"Let's find out where that hatch leads." She grabbed Amy's paw, flew upwards and yanked it open. They heard a loud shuffling noise from above, but Rouge climbed up into the room regardless, before her grip gave out.

"You!" Rouge exclaimed angrily. They had emerged in the space transporter room. Eggman was there, attaching small bombs to the transporter.

"Ah, Rouge. I wouldn't get any ideas about following me this time," Robotnik sneered. "Swiped yourself a hostage, I see. A good choice, that hedgehog will risk his life for her. Goodbye."

"I don't think so," Rouge replied, sliding swiftly over to the controls.

"Don't touch that!" Robotnik screamed. He dived from the machine and rolled toward the far wall with amazing agility for someone his size. Sensing danger, Rouge flew and landed next to Amy who was crouched tightly against the floor. The transporter detonated. Amy whimpered softly, clutching her hands to her ears to blot out some of the noise. She felt a sensation of burning heat and the floor beneath vibrated violently. Pieces of red-hot machinery zinged over her head, showering her with sparks. She could smell a thick oily-rubbery smell in the black smoke, which wisped about the room.

"You imbecile!" Eggman screamed in rage. Rouge tapped Amy's shoulder gently, since the pink hedgehog was still curled up on the floor, shaking slightly. She uncurled warily.

"The way I see it, I've just done the world a favour," Rouge scoffed smugly.

"You've destroyed your only means of escape!" said Eggman.

"Perhaps. But I've destroyed yours as well," Rouge replied coolly. Eggman sniggered as though he genuinely found this funny.

"So you've become one of them. The 'heroes'," he mocked, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

"It's better than being what you are, you creep!" Amy squealed indignantly. "You tricked Shadow, didn't you? You wanted to destroy the Mobius all along, and you tricked him into helping you! I hate you!"

"But my dear Amy," Robotnik rallied. "Having the Mobius destroyed was Shadow's idea. He must have revenge you see. For his Maria."

"Your grandfather's experiments are the reason she was killed! You must have known about them! That's why you woke up Shadow!" Amy yelled. Rouge watched the scene unfolding with a mixture of amusement and surprise at the kid's courage. "Sonic will stop you whatever you're up to!" Amy added.

After this, Robotnik regained whatever confidence he had momentarily lost, and scoffed at her.

"Face it, you pathetic simpleton. Your hero is dead," he told her smugly. Though this statement failed to have the effect he had expected.

"Nope!" Amy grinned. "You didn't think you could get rid of my Sonic that easily, did you?" For a moment Robotnik's features betrayed a kind of bewilderment. But he rallied again.

"No matter. You will all perish in an hour or so. And now I have a small matter to take care of. Farewell!" he cried, advancing towards the door. As the computerised voice made another complaint about Eggman's sabotage attempts on the life support systems, a scene unfolded which thoroughly amazed all witnesses apart from the perpetrator. When Robotnik turned his back, to head down the corridor outside, Amy crouched, ran a few paces, slammed her hammer down hard on the floor with a momentum that sent her flying into a graceful somersault, lifted and aimed the hammer on her descent, and struck her target hard on the head. As Amy landed neatly, Robotnik slumped to the floor, unconscious. Rouge stood aghast. Amy seized her victim by the wrist and yanked.

"Let's lock him in here! Help me!" she called to Rouge. The girls struggled to heave Robotnik back into the room. Behind them, Amy closed the door and tapped the lock with her hammer, just enough to dent and jam it.

"Well..." Rouge began. "The others underestimate you, Amy!" The hedgehog shrugged coolly.

"C'm on, let's find Sonic!" she squealed happily, already running on ahead.


	7. The Biolizard

As Rouge and Amy ran through the security doors; they heard a rumbling roar of pain, which seemed to shake most of the Colony. The din vaguely resembled the cry of a big cat of some sort.

"What was that?" Amy whimpered.

"That 'shadow' impostor creature?" Rouge suggested. They heard the real Shadow's voice yell something to Sonic, and that sent them running the rest of the way down the tunnel. It ended abruptly, opening out into the huge room beyond. The girls knelt on the edge and stared down.

Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles were dodging balls of lightening, which a creature, apparently housing the main power source in the middle of its back fired at them. It was a gargantuan lizard-like form, red-orange with a dark teal underbelly and markings. It resembled a cross between an iguana and a salamander, and had four stout and stubby legs with webbed toes. As Amy and Rouge watched it thrashing about, attempting to defend itself, they noticed that its feet where malformed and misshapen.

The creature had a large flat head, roughly trapezium shaped with three dark green pipes leading from either side of its mouth and the top of its head, back to the mechanical structure on its back. The visible part of this consisted of a row of metal boxes, piping and wires. In the middle there was a glowing red ball of light. The creature's tail was at least as long as the rest of its body; most of the thrashing was caused by the effort of lashing this appendage at the attackers. It rested in a pool of yellow water, which had splashed everywhere during the struggle. The main block of equipment on its back appeared to be coming loose, and the red light in the middle was dimming.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled, holding his emerald aloft. Blue light flashed all over the creature and it froze. Sonic fired at the creature's mechanical backpack from mid-air, while Knuckles sat astride the creature's tail, hacking at the machinery with his spiked gloves. As Shadow leapt to attack, the blue emerald energies fled and the creature's body curved as it prepared another powerful lash of its tail. Knuckles leapt from his precarious perch and glided to safety, while Shadow's leap sent him crashing into the heart of the machinery as a tiny black spiked ball.

"Shadow!" Sonic wailed, fearing that the creature's mechanics might explode. Everyone covered their ears seconds later, when Shadow struck and the creature screamed as though in agony. The anxious watchers lost sight of Shadow as the creature flailed madly, the light on its back mostly diminished. The creature wailed again and...vanished... It appeared to sink into the pool and disappear without a trace. Shadow was revealed on the far side of the pool, getting painfully to his feet.

"Where'd it go? Amy wondered, loudly. The three below glanced up at her voice.

"Amy! How long have you been up there?" Sonic called up.

"Not long," Rouge replied. Knuckles was peering anxiously into the depths of the pool.

"Where is it?" he grumbled. "It must still be alive because we're still moving."

'Oxygen and gravity levels severely depleted in exterior sectors one through forty-three! Life support in interior areas thirteen through forty-one un-operational. Locking entrances.'

"Shut it!" Sonic snapped irritably in the direction of a flashing red warning light.

"You guys...you guys, you'd better come here right now and see this," said the receiver in Tails' Cyclone. The kitsune sounded terribly afraid.

"Tails? What is it, buddy?" Sonic asked, sounding worried.

"Just...just come to the shuttle bay...NOW," Tails replied, fearfully. "There's a creature...look, just hurry!"

"It's after Tails!" Sonic concluded angrily, already flying up to join Amy and Rouge, without stopping to wonder what the creature could want with a young kitsune whom it'd never met. "Guys, c'm on!"

When he had first reached the shuttle bay, Tails had found the remains of two shuttles, which Robotnik had obviously found first. Still, with the reassuring presence of the purple and green mechanical rings outside, Tails had ventured out optimistically to attempt repairs. By now the best fix-up job he could do with his limited resources was nearly complete. Tails was unsure it would survive re-entering the Mobius's atmosphere, but since Amy had told him about the space transporter being destroyed by Eggman, this would have to do.

Moments before he had called Sonic from up here, the ground under his feet had vibrated violently like an earthquake. From the far end of the runway where the main platform tapered to a point, a long mechanical pole extended and lengthened out into space. Tails had rushed to the tapered point of the runway to watch. With a sticky sliding noise, the head and neck of a lizard had melted out from the end of the pole, dripping with yellow liquid. Tails had starred, horrified for a few moments, watching the creature trashing its head and snapping its jaws at passing meteors before he had called Sonic. They were still headed towards Mobius.

His friends found him on the runway, still staring over at the creature. They joined him. Mobius seemed so near now, they were afraid they were about to crash into it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Tails asked. Of course he had seen a rough sketch of the creature in the files he'd stolen.

"The creature at the power source? Yeah, we were fighting it. We thought it was nearly defeated, but then it disappeared...and showed up out here," said Sonic.

"I think it's trying to keep the Colony moving towards Mobius," said Tails. "At the rate we've moving we'll be...there soon..."

"Then I have to kill it now!" Shadow exclaimed, glaring hatefully at the creature.

"Knuckles...could he please use your Master Emerald?" Tails pleaded. "The Eclipse Cannon worked with the master replacing the seventh...so I hoped it might work for-" Knuckles caught his drift.

"No," he interrupted.

"KNUX!" Sonic shouted, unable to believe the echidna's selfishness. "You really think your duties as Guardian of that gem allow you to stand by and watch a whole planet destroyed on the off chance it might survive? Who are you protecting it for? Have you seen the size of this Colony? If we hit Mobius there won't be anyone left!"

"I...I can't trust him...not with the master, it's much more powerful than a normal emerald," Knuckles said solemnly. Shadow turned his scowling glare to Knuckles, while the others stared at the echidna, with wide frightened eyes.

"I'll go with him then-we can share the power. I'll look after the emerald for you, I swear...Knux...you've got to let us use it. You know you do! Stop wasting time!" Sonic pleaded.

"Sonic...uh...I don't think that's such a good idea..." Tails said nervously. "I think you're still infected by the energies of the fake chaos emerald, and that's what made you sick...and I made the fake to react against the chaos emeralds."

"You'll have to go then," Sonic said to Knuckles. "Since you won't trust Shadow on his own."

"If we don't do something fast we'll enter the Mobius's gravity field, and we'll be pulled in even without the Colony's power," Tails worried. "Knux-" The echidna sighed, admitting defeat. He pulled out his emerald.

"I'm coming with you though," he told Shadow. Tails handed him the emeralds from his tool bag, and Knuckles gathered them together muttering an incantation. He threw the emeralds up and they flashed brightly, charging with power. As he absorbed their power, his fur began to glow as well. Before the spell was complete, he grabbed Shadow's wrist so the glow surrounded him too. The emeralds flashed again, and Shadow's black fur was bleached white, though his red markings remained. The emeralds orbited around the pair, and Knuckles released his grip.

"Don't try to use a single emerald for an attack like you did before, or you'll break the connection and the power will fade. We have to rely on our own strength, but charged with all seven emerald energies, we are stronger and invulnerable to harm...so long as the connection is not broken. Understand?"

"Yeah..." Shadow said, staring curiously at his shimmering white fur.

"We'd better wait for you inside the shuttle," said Tails. "I don't know how much longer the oxygen will last out here.

"Luck, guys. The whole world's counting on yah. Finish this fast," Sonic said to Shadow and Knuckles.

Since the creature had been in control of the Colony, it seemed they'd been travelling faster, somehow. Knuckles attacked the creature from the mechanical pole, which attached it to the Colony, but Shadow leapt onto some of the railing marking the edge of the Colony, and skated across this to reach their target, showing off, but gaining more speed and hitting the creature harder than Knuckles could, all the same. They aimed for the red sphere on the creature's back again, but after the creature had taken several hits the light was only the slightest bit dimmer than before.

"We're taking too long!" Knuckles shouted out to Shadow, who was skating along the railing towards the creature. He leapt and landed in front Knuckles riding on the creature's back. "If it carries on like this any longer we'll enter the Mobius's gravity field, if we haven't already..." Shadow turned to face the Mobius silently. Knuckles stared at him, wondering how he could remain so openly calm.

"There's only one way to finish this fast enough," Shadow said slowly. "The time has come, Maria. Finally you shall have vengeance. The legacy of Gerald Robotnik will blight the world no more." He reached up and ceased the shrunken master emerald.

"NO!" Knuckles screamed at him, but Shadow ignored him.

"Chaos Spear!" he yelled.

The remaining six chaos emeralds fell back onto the runway. Space filled with brilliant white-green light. Knuckles scowled, half shielding his eyes with his paws, but still attempting to see what had happened. The light began to grow increasingly hotter. He panicked, gathered up the emeralds, and ran back towards the runway, hearing the screams of both Shadow and the creature. Looking down at his hands, he saw that his fur and the emeralds were glowing with an emerald green aura, and he could no longer feel the rising heat. The master emerald was floating over his head, enveloping them both in the aura. It was protecting him. Once he had reached the relative safety of the runway, his eyes went wide with horror when turned and saw a blazing fire where Shadow had stood on the creature's neck and initiated the attack. The white-green light surrounded the mechanical pole in a spherical shape, and the metal was beginning to melt with the heat. Without his master emerald protecting him, he would surely be ablaze as well. The creature was dead now, it had to be, but Shadow had sacrificed his own life to defeat it.

Later on, when Knuckles remembered the anger he had felt, watching Shadow grab his emerald, he felt ashamed. Shadow was right; it had been the only way. He had ceased that one chance to have everything he had ever dreamed for, since the day the military came to shut down the Ark. It had been a truly awesome act of selflessness, and Knuckles had been the sole witness, only due to anger and mistrust. But for now, in the present, he simply stood there, sadly watching the fire blaze. 

Three giant spears appeared from the centre of the inferno and struck the edge of the runway, breaking off the pole structure. The fire went out as it floated away from the Colony with ripped wires hanging loosely from one end, and the opposite end charred and melted. Knuckles turned his head upwards and gazed in awe at the master emerald, floating majestically above him. Somehow they had switched roles. All his life he had patiently guarded this gem, as his duties as a guardian dictated that he must. But at the instant of his greatest need, the emerald had guarded him. As he gazed at it, he saw it as more than an inanimate object. He saw the gem sacred and cherished by generations of echidnas, which had saved his life.

A soft vibration below his feet interrupted his thoughts. The Colony's power had finally failed; the lights had flicked off almost like someone had tripped a switch. It snapped Knuckles back to reality, and he realised that they were still moving. Of course, the Colony wouldn't stop instantly without power; it would slow down gradually to a stop. But what if it reached the Mobius before it slowed down enough? And it must have entered the Mobius's gravity by now anyway, since the planet seemed so awfully close. Knuckles racked his mind for something to do...it couldn't end like this, not after Shadow's desperate sacrifice. There had to be something!

Ultimately, it was this thought of Shadow that gave him the answer. Knuckles remembered how he had used that 'chaos control' attack to freeze enemies, making them easier to target. With a regular chaos emerald, the effect hadn't been permanent...but the master emerald made 'chaos sphere' far more powerful. Perhaps it could freeze the Colony permanently...

Grasping the emerald, he held it aloft, trying to remember everything Shadow did. Right. He thrust the emerald forwards in the direction of the Colony...but he wasn't doing it right, he could sense it somehow...

"C-chaos control?" he asked, loudly. Nothing happened. He glared at the emerald. He could almost imagine it sniggering. He knew he must look absurd up there, glowing green, dancing around, holding an emerald in the air, and yelling things. No one had seen...only the emeralds...and the stars, of course, twinkling up there like a million eyes winking away tears of laughter. They wouldn't forget a good joke like this for a thousand millennia. Knuckles scowled at them. He was embarrassed and angry. And that made him more determined to do it right this time, more than ever. He leapt back into stance, and thrust the emerald forward as though he really meant it.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" he bellowed. The emerald appeared to erupt in green light. The flash spread over the Colony with a liquid like quality. It seeped smoothly from the emerald almost as though it were bleeding. It flowed with a smooth but urgent pace, coating every part of the space Colony, welding it into a timeless halt in space. The glow remained, even after the light had winked out of the emerald. It lay in his paws now, instead of floating like before. 'It's exhausted' Knuckles thought, even though the idea sounded absurd. It wasn't tired; it had simply used up what power it had to spare for now. Knuckles noticed he was still glowing like the Colony. It had saved something it needed to help him. He cradled it in his paws, surveying the scene. They had stopped...though he hadn't doubted that they had. The Colony seemed somehow peaceful now. Its power was gone, but it rested, bathing in a gentle green glow. It was safe. The world was safe. It was over at last. Knuckles headed for the shuttle.


	8. Aftermath

Amy was waiting at the door to greet Knuckles with a tight squeeze. 

"Where's Shadow?" Tails asked. There was a difficult pause. It seemed that everyone knew then, before Knuckles recounted what had happened. He told them solemnly, staring mostly at his shoes. Even after his story had finished, it was several moments before he could meet their gaze. Tails was slouched against his Cyclone, apparently staring at the floor, but perhaps not really seeing it. Amy sat next to him. She looked as though she might cry. She and Rouge had seen a side of Shadow that no one else had for fifty years. She would miss him most of all. Rouge sat alone by a window, hugging her knees. Sonic sat at the controls, staring out over the runway.

"He gave up everything...to achieve the only thing he ever wanted. He lived for revenge...he has that now...and he saved all of us...Maria would be so proud," Rouge said. Her tone was softer than usual, and slower. Shadow's bitter determination had moved her. She was greatly humbled. There was silence as each of them contemplated in their own thoughts.

"Shadow had the heart of a true hero. He just needed a reason...to fight for the right cause," said Sonic. The tears already welling in Amy's eyes dripped freely over her cheeks. She moaned softly, and Tails, feeling like he might cry himself, wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Sonic coughed hoarsely, and leant heavily on the controls. He felt so tired, and his ankle was throbbing worse than ever before. He winced, feeling faint.

Knuckles saw him, and glanced down at the emerald he was practically hugging. Tails had warned Sonic against touching the real chaos emeralds, but the master was different from them, it had to be. It was far more powerful than all of them put together, even when shrunken down to the size of just one of them. An emerald had made Sonic sick; maybe the master would cure him.

"Hold this," Knuckles said, holding out the master emerald towards Sonic. The hedgehog eyed it warily.

"It's okay, it's not like the chaos emeralds," Knuckles reassured him. Sonic reached for the emerald warily. The green glow extended to his paw the instant he touched it. He took the emerald, staring at his glowing paw. The glow spread slowly, up his arm, over his neck, around his muzzle and down over his spines. It shimmered for an instant then seemed to melt away, sinking beneath his skin. He shook as though he'd felt a sudden chill. A light yellow dust, the colour of the fake emerald scattered from his fur and dissolved in the air. He handed the emerald back to Knuckles. Firmly. Not the weak grasp he'd clutched it with before. He even tried putting weight on his damaged ankle, but rapidly brought it back up again. The master emerald might be able to soothe the effects of the fake, but it could not mend broken bone.

"Wow..." Sonic said. "Not bad for a glowing gemstone." He looked around at his friends. "Let's go home."

The shuttle re-entered the Mobius's atmosphere with a jolt that sent everyone aboard flying over each other. Outside the shuttle blazed through the o-zone like a shooting star, gaining velocity rapidly. Too rapidly. Inside the craft, everyone felt the full force of the acceleration's throttle.

"Slow it dowwwwwwwn!" Amy wailed. She had a point though. They'd have to slow down before they landed! Sonic crawled back to the controls, trying to figure out how to break in mid plummet. Something here must be for slowing down! In a panic, he grabbed at everything apart from the lever for acceleration. The others could only wait in terror. Rouge, next to Knuckles, found herself clutching his paw for comfort. He stared at her, almost like Shadow had stared at Amy before. She looked down at her paw too, as though she'd barely realised it was there.

"Whoa" she breathed. The green glow from the emerald, still protecting its guardian, was slowly covering her as well. When it enveloped her, she could no longer feel the force of their descent anymore. Maybe...she wondered...maybe it would be enough to protect all of them, if the craft wouldn't slow down. She grabbed Tails' wrist, hoping he'd understand. He glanced up, staring in wonder, as the green glow coated his fur, but when it coated him completely, he realised what Rouge had. He reached out, and caught Amy's wrist. The ocean appeared below them as the shuttle spiralled down to meet it.

"Sonic!" Amy cried, reaching out for his paw. He hopped down from his seat, and hugged her when she curled up against his chest. She was shaking all over despite the protection of the emerald, and he was afraid too, though he'd barely admit it, even to himself.

Below, the ocean waited. They were going to land within sight of a beach, not that it would make any difference now, if the master emerald could not protect them. A large crowd had gathered, watching the shuttle's perilous descent in horror. As yet, they did not realise who was on board, only that they'd surely be killed on impact, if they were still alive after burning through the atmosphere. Still, the people crowded together, transfixed by the horrors they were witnessing, like passing motorists staring at a traffic collision. Lifeguards yelled orders, trying to disperse the crowd, or at least get them a safe distance away from the waves that would be caused by the impact. Inside the shuttle, the terrified occupants awaited the same moment.

The shuttle hit the water. At first it appeared to sink, but this was actually caused by the water rising up around it as waves. People ran as they headed to break on the shore, but those clustered around the pier remained watching. Some of the shuttle broke off on impact. There was an explosion, and most of the shape sank below the waves, slowly, leaving debris floating around in the water. Some people began to leave, deciding a real life tragedy wasn't a show they wanted to see after all. The crowd was solemn now, watching a few orange lifeboats float out to the wreck, though the pilot's faces told that they didn't expect to see anyone still alive to rescue.

Underwater and sinking fast, the former occupants of the doomed shuttle, made a break for the surface, pulling themselves free from the remains of the wreck. Their hands and wrists remained joined; with the master emerald's help, they barely felt the pull of the undersea currents, and the impact with the sea had felt like little more than the jolt of re-entry. Above, they could vaguely make out the fluorescent orange of the rescue boats. They aimed towards them.

"Hey...do you see that?" a lifeguard called out to his fellows, pointing into the ocean. As he stared, the others strained to see. Knuckles broke the surface first, followed by Rouge. They gasped for air out of instinct, as the other three joined them. Glancing around, they saw the astonished faces of the lifeguards, all staring in wonder.

"Let go!" Rouge whispered to Knuckles, pulling her hand away. Knuckles released her as though he'd expected that reaction all along. She released Tails, who let go of Amy. But the pink hedgehog remained holding on to her hero, helping him to swim on account of his broken ankle. The green glow from the master emerald disappeared, as the chain from Knuckles was broken, even fading away from him this time. He clutched the emerald firmly in his arms, as the lifeguards helped him aboard their craft. He heard Amy yelling at another of them to be careful of Sonic's ankle, and his mouth moved into something that wanted to be a grin, but was too tied up with other mixed emotions to make much of an impression on his face. On the shoreline, the crowd had started cheering. They realised that they'd all witnessed some sort of miracle, and the shuttle's occupants had survived. That was enough reason to cheer for any of them. Some passed around pairs of binoculars excitedly, to see what was actually happening, and as always, cameras flashed.

"So I guess we're heroes after all," Rouge said impassively, leaning against the side of the life craft. Her eyes turned to Knuckles, and she watched him, thoughtfully.

"Do you feel like one? After all, it was you who you stopped the space Colony in the end. You saved us all,"

"No," he sighed. "Though we'll be treated like we should, even when we tell them what really happened."

"If only we could make them understand about Shadow too," Rouge sighed.

"Maybe some of them will, who knows?" Sonic interrupted, reflectively, as the raft carrying him and Amy brushed past.

"Yeah, but more of them will remember him from what they knew before, as a prisoner, a thief and a criminal. When it comes to recognising him as a hero, will they? Some of them won't even want to." Knuckles declared, as the boats reached the beach, and the excited crowd gathered around, eager to hear their tale.


End file.
